


As We Fade Into The Night

by SerStolas



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Final moments, Inspired by Music, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-28 02:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12596308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: Final moments, final thoughts, and the deaths of Rogue One.Inspired by Black Veil Bride's "In The End"





	As We Fade Into The Night

**Author's Note:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts
> 
> Many thanks to imsfire!

 

_In the end, as we fade into the night (whoa!)_  
_Who will tell the story of your life?_  
_In the end, as my soul's laid to rest_  
_What is left of my body?_  
_Or am I just a shell?_  
_I have fought_  
_And with flesh and blood, I commanded an army_  
_Through it all_  
_I have given my heart for a moment of glory_

_In the end, as you fade into the night (whoa!)_  
_Who will tell the story of your life? (Whoa!)_  
_And who will remember your last goodbye? (Whoa!)_  
_'Cause it's the end and I'm not afraid_  
_I'm not afraid to die_

_\- Black Veil Bride, In The End_

 

Bodhi Rook had spent most of his life playing it safe.  The Empire had subjugated hundreds of worlds, and spending his life under the Empire's rule, his options for becoming a pilot had been limited.

 

So he'd gone to the Academy.  He'd learned to fly.  His scores in flight sims had never been good enough for them to allow him near a Tie Fighter, but he hadn't washed out completely.  He graduated and joined the Imperial Navy as a cargo pilot.  It was a job, it was needed, he told himself.  He winced internally as he watched the Empire's cruelty, and turned his head, trying very hard to live with his dreams, and later, his nightmares

Galen Erso had known there was more to Bodhi Rook than just following orders, though.  He'd seen the uncertainty, the sadness, in the cargo pilot's eyes when the Empire destroyed yet another life.  And so Galen Erso had made a plan.  He'd befriended the Pilot.  Eventually a respect grew between the two men.

And then when Galen Erso needed to deliver his message, he knew who to turn to.

Bodhi Rook had never thought he would chose to defect from the Empire, but when Galen approached him, he knew in his heart that it was right, that it was necessary.  So he'd taken the shuttle, and he'd landed on Jedha, the Holy city, the city he'd originally come from, though it no longer felt like home, and went looking for Saw Gerrera.

The horror that had awaited him there was unexpected, but the moment he met Cassian Andor and the man's words and pulled him back to himself, Bodhi had felt something like relief.

When they'd gone to try and save Galen, and the man had died, it had hurt, losing one of the first true friends he'd had in a long time.  He'd realized, though, that this group around him: Cassian, Jyn, Baze, Chirrut, even K2-SO, no matter how briefly he'd known them, they were his friends.

So when the unauthorized mission to Scariff had needed a pilot, he'd volunteered, even knowing in his heart that they might not make it out on the other side

In his final moments, as he lay in the shuttle, the smell of blood and fire around him, he knew he'd accomplished something, by carrying those plans away from the Empire.  Jyn and Cassian would succeed.  They had to.

And as blackness took him, he realized he wasn't afraid to die.

~~

Baze Malbus and Chirrut Îmwe had seen much of the worst the Empire had to offer.  When their temple was destroyed, they'd taken to the back streets of Jedha. 

Chirrut had never given up on his faith in the Force.  He believed to the end that the Force would guide them and take them where they were needed the most.

When Chirrut had joined in the battle with Jyn and Cassian, he'd believed it was necessary.  The Force meant for he and Baze to follow these young men and women.  The Empire might have destroyed the temple, might have destroyed the lives that Baze and Chirrut had known, but it had not destroyed his faith in the galaxy, or his faith in the Force.

Baze of course had gone along with it because he would follow Chirrut to the end of the galaxy.  After they'd been reunited in the streets of Jedha, Baze had made Chirrut a promise.  He wouldn't leave Chirrut, not again.  While much of the heart had gone out of him, he still loved his husband, and he knew Chirrut loved him.  He didn't share Chirrut's faith, but he put up with it, because it made Chirrut happy.

Chirrut had seen the force shining around Jyn and Cassian.  Chirrut had followed willingly.  The Force would guide him to the place where he and Baze could make the most difference.  They'd had their years, here on Jedha. 

The destruction of Jedha had torn at both of them, knowing it was gone, as if it had never existed, but it would remain in their memories.

Baze had seen the fighting spirit in Jyn and Cassian.  He'd seen the bright spark in Jyn, and called her little sister, seeing his own determination, and even his own cynicism, in the young woman.

So when the Rebellion decided not to take the information they'd been given and make use of it, Baze had Chirrut had decided together that they would follow Jyn and Cassian, wherever they might lead.

There on the sands of Scariff, the Force guided Chirrut to the place he could make the most difference.  It guided him to the place he was meant to be, even if it cost his life.  As he fell on the hot sand, he felt the Force envelope him.  Somewhere in the distance, he sensed his husband, and as his eyes shut for the last time, he smiled, knowing they would truly be one with the Force soon.

In those last minutes, somehow, Baze's faith in the Force was restored.  It guided Chirrut, and now it guided him, taking as many of the Imperials as he could with him, his armor weighing heavier on him with each step, with each shot, until he too fell in the sands.  But as the pain washed away, he could sense Chirrut's spirit near him, and joined his husband in the Force, satisfaction and love washing away the sounds of battle around them.

~~

K2-SO regretted only that he could not guarantee that Cassian would live.

For the organic that had given him free will, K2-SO was willing to do what he would have for no one else.

As his circuits shut down, he reflected that, at least, he had helped those Organics he cared about.  Cassian, Jyn, Chirrut, Baze, and the Pilot.

They had made a difference.

And then the lights flickered, and K2-SO was still.

~~

From the chaotic rescue, to Jedha, to Eadu, and to Yavin, Cassian Andor was there.  Jyn Erso reflected on that as she knelt now in the sands of Scariff, watching the cloud of smoke rolling across the water towards them, her arms tightening around Cassian.

Losing Saw on Jedha had hurt.  Saw had never been a perfect parent, but he'd been there for Jyn, until he wasn't.  Like her father, like her mother, he'd eventually left her.  But he'd taught her a great deal.

She'd spent years hoping her father was still alive.  The knowledge that he hadn't willingly collaborated with the Empire, the knowledge that he'd created a weakness in an Imperial super weapon that they could exploit..It did not erase the past, but it gave her faith in her father's name again, it meant that all her hopes over the years had not been in vain.

But then her father had died, leaving her for a second time.

From the age of eight onwards, all Jyn Erso really knew was fighting, violence, and loss.  Don't grow to close to people, they might abandon you as well.  Don't ever put too much trust in a single individual...don't

The thought faltered as she looked up for just a moment, meeting Cassian's brown eyes.

He'd been there with her, on Jedha, on Eadu, on Yavin.  When no one else had listened, he had.  If they'd had more than a few days together, if they could have gotten off this beach on Scariff, Jyn could see herself willing to rely on him, willing to trust him, willing to love him.

They had no more than a few more moments together.  Maybe, she thought, that was all they needed.  It was more than some people ever got.

When she met his eyes, she knew that Cassian felt the same.  She listened to the beating sound of his heart, as the fire washed over them.

Cassian Andor had known loss from a young age.  From the age of six, he'd been groomed as a solider and a spy.  He had given himself willingly and wholeheartedly to the Rebel Alliance.

Cassian was good at what he did.  He could lie, he could sneak, he could kill, if it meant that it would further the Rebel cause.  During his first few years, he'd regretted some of what he'd done, when he'd grown too close to others.  Eventually, Cassian realized that being too close to other people was dangerous. 

He had friends, people he trusted to a degree, but no one he would open his darkest secrets to. 

There were things that Draven ordered him to do that, had he come from any other background, he might have shied from.  But it had a purpose.

Any sacrifice was worth it for the Alliance.

Then he'd met Jyn.  He'd seen a spark and a fire burning in her, buried under layers of cynicism and disdain.  She reminded him of why he was still willing to do what he did.  She reminded him that there was more to life than missions, than an all consuming cause. 

Her bickering with K2-SO had made him smile, as he truly hadn't in a long time.

And she made him feel things he thought he'd forgotten how to long ago.

When Cassian Andor told Jyn Erso 'welcome home,' he meant it.  Wherever this insanity took them, he was willing to be her home, and he felt that she was his.  If the war had been kinder, he would have trusted her, and learned to love and hold her.

Now he knelt on the beach on Scariff, the sight of her green eyes meeting his burned into his memory, the warmth of her head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, and he felt truly at home.  They had only days, now moments, together, but he knew he loved her.

And that love swept his spirit away with hers, as the fire took them, and they became one with the Force.

~~

As the crew of Rogue One faded into the darkness of the galaxy, their spirits burned through the Force, taking them from this life, and into the next.

They were one with the Force and the Force was with them.

 

 


End file.
